London Traveller was a bus operator in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It was partially owned by

Yorkshire Traction Yorkshire Traction was a bus operator in South Yorkshire, South and West Yorkshire with subsidiaries in other areas that operated from 1902 until 2005. History In March 1902 the Barnsley & District Electric Traction Company Limited was forme ...

, and was sold to

Thorpes Thorpes was an English bus operator. It operated services under contract to Transport for London. History Thorpes was a coach operator that diversified into operating bus services under contract to Transport for London in the 1990s. Their Sta ...

in October 2001.

History

London Traveller was formed in 1998 and initially operated local routes in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

from a base in

Potters Bar Potters Bar is a town in Hertfordshire, England,in the historic County of Middlesex Hertsmere Borough Council – Community Strategy First Review (PDF) north of central London. In 2011, it had a population of 21,882.London Forest London Forest was a subsidiary of London Transport that operated bus services in London between April 1989 and November 1991. History London Forest was formed as one of the eleven operating units of London Transport in readiness for privatisa ...

operation. A small number of contracted school bus workings on London routes 143 and 302 were gained in June 1998, and operated with second-hand double-deckers. The company's biggest expansion came in May 1999, when the contract for routes

187 Year 187 ( CLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Quintius and Aelianus (or, less frequently, year 940 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 187 for th ...

and 487 were won from

Metroline Metroline is a bus operator operating primarily in Greater London and partially in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. It is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro and operates bus services for London Buses under contract to Transport for Lon ...

.The London Bus Page - 15/03/04 - All Change On The 187 and 487
Fifteen new Volvo B6BLEs were purchased to operate the routes. Following this success,

bought a 25% stake in the company. The Hertfordshire routes were registered to a separate company, so were expected not to be involved in the deal, but were ultimately integrated into the London Traveller business. In mid-2000 Deveraux left the company, and his successor Dave Booker immediately cancelled the two remaining off-peak commercial services in Hertfordshire. Route 187 was extended to operate to

Finchley Road Finchley Road is a designated arterial road in north-west London, England. The Finchley Road starts in St John's Wood near central London as part of the A41 road, A41; its southern half is a major dual carriageway with high traffic levels oft ...

in early 2000, and five more B6BLEs were acquired. Management problems at London Traveller in 2000 saw the company reformed, with Metropolitan Omnibus becoming a trading name for the first time. Traction's share in the company increased to 35% as a result. In October 2001, the company was sold to

Subsequent history

Thorpes acquired all of Traveller's routes and vehicles, although the Volvo B6BLEs were later sold back to Traction and used in the

and

Yorkshire Terrier The Yorkshire Terrier, also known as a Yorkie, is a British breed of toy dog of terrier type. It is among the smallest of the terriers and indeed of all dog breeds, with a weight of no more than . It originated in the nineteenth century in the ...

fleets. They were included in the 2006 sale of Traction to

Stagecoach Yorkshire Stagecoach Yorkshire is a bus operator providing local and regional services across South Yorkshire and Derbyshire in England. It is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group and is headquartered in Barnsley. The subsidiary was formed in 2005 follow ...

Fleet

London Traveller used Volvo B6BLEs on routes 187 and 487, initially buying 15 and later acquiring a further five following a route extension. Another similar bus was delivered as a spare in 2001, taking the total to 21, the number acquired by Thorpes. These were joined on the routes by a unique

MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

NL222 single-decker for a short period. Traveller's other routes used double-deckers such as

MCW Metrobus The MCW Metrobus is a two and three-axle double-decker bus manufactured by Metro Cammell Weymann (MCW) between 1977 and 1989. The Metrobus was conceived as a semi-integral product manufactured completely by MCW in both MkI and MkII variants, but ...

es,

Leyland Olympian The Leyland Olympian is a 2-axle and 3-axle double-decker bus chassis that was manufactured by Leyland between 1980 and 1993. It was the last Leyland bus model in production. Construction The Olympian had the same chassis and running gear ...

s and a Dennis Arrow. A

Leyland National The Leyland National is an integrally constructed British step-floor single-decker bus manufactured in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries – the National Bus Com ...

was also owned, as was a

Leyland Leopard The Leyland Leopard was a mid-engine design, mid-engined single-decker bus and single-decker bus, single-decker coach (bus), coach chassis manufactured by Leyland Bus, Leyland between 1959 and 1982. History The Leyland Leopard was introduced ...

and a

Leyland Lynx The Leyland Lynx was a High-floor, step-entrance integral single-deck bus manufactured by Leyland Bus, Leyland in Workington, England between 1986 and 1992. After the takeover by Volvo Buses, Volvo, it was succeeded by the Volvo B10B. Backgrou ...

.London Traveller D156HML on Flickr
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References

{{Defunct British Bus Companies Former London bus operators 1998 establishments in England 2001 disestablishments in England Former bus operators in Hertfordshire